I prefer to have significant reserves in diversified invest easily accessed as opposed to dead equity I can not control or access during a down turn.

I would pick a "drop dead" date that you will start actively looking for properties.

This allows you to have all the financial security and easy access to your cash, which real estate does not, as well as affording you much higher returns than simply having dead equity.The same would apply to paying down your own home mortgage, all you save is the mortgage interest. 

Are you dead set on living in the place, or living close to it?  

The apprentice isn't dead at 23, but he is in a persistent vegetative state.

I would pull out all that dead equity that is costing you a fortune in lost income and put it in a money market or income fund. 

Water is deadly for structures. 

I spent years working in dead end jobs and going to school for degrees I didn't use. 

You should also pull dead equity out of your remaining properties to increase ROI and reinvest it as well.  

 Not to beat a dead horse but I’ve had some replies to my former discussion, which indicates to me that in my quest to find my first flip property, not counting the last two houses over the last 4 1/2 years that I have successfully turned over for a profit using 2 30-year conventional loans, I can actually purchase a property using my S Corp.The only problem is,  I would need to live in the property that I am fixing up, as I currently do not have a permanent home-base.